An expanded set of macroeconomic statistics for policymaking: Meeting the demands of a changing world

Abstract

This article serves as an introduction to the series of articles included in the SJIAOS special issue about the comprehensive updates made to the System of National Accounts 2025 (2025 SNA) and the Integrated Balance of Payments and International Investment Position Manual, Seventh Edition (BPM7). The article provides an overview of the increasing complexity of economic activity, incorporating new forms of value creation such as digital platforms, cryptocurrencies, and intangible assets. It notes that updated standards enhance consistency and integration between national accounts and external sector statistics, facilitating more accurate measurement and analysis for policymakers. The article outlines the key themes included in the special issue such as the explicit recognition of data as a produced asset, expanded indicators for digitalization, and improved classification of financial instruments and institutional sectors. The article underscores the collaborative nature of these updates, achieved through international cooperation and extensive consultation, ensuring global relevance and acceptance. It concludes by advocating for ongoing revision and harmonization of statistical manuals to maintain relevance and support effective policy decisions.

1 Modernizing economic statistics for effective policy decisions

In the rapidly evolving landscape of the global economy, the information needs of policymakers have never been more complex or urgent. As economies transform under the influence of digitalization, technological innovation, and shifting patterns of globalization, the frameworks for macroeconomic statistics must be continually revisited and revitalized. An expanded and modernized set of macroeconomic statistics is essential to equip policymakers with the comprehensive, timely, and relevant data required for informed decision-making in an increasingly complex economy. This special issue of the Statistical Journal of the International Association of Official Statistics highlights major enhancements introduced in the newly released updated versions of two key standards for economic statistics, the System of National Accounts 2025 (2025 SNA) ¹ and the Integrated Balance of Payments and International Investment Position Manual, Seventh Edition (BPM7). ² The various articles included in this issue take a thematic look at the main features of the updated statistical standards and how the resulting statistics, once developed, can support policymaking across a range of economic and societal issues.

Economic statistics are the backbone of effective economic research and policy. As the world moves forward, these statistics must keep pace with the realities they seek to measure. Timely updates to statistical manuals, including the System of National Accounts (SNA) and the Balance of Payments Manual (BPM) are critical. These manuals serve as international standards for producing and presenting economic statistics. Regular updates ensure that the frameworks remain responsive to new forms of economic activity and the evolving needs of users.

The primary motivation for updating these manuals is the necessity to capture key changes in economic activity. The rise of digitalization, for example, has fundamentally altered the structure of economies worldwide. Digital platforms, intangible assets, and the proliferation of data-driven business models challenge traditional statistical categories. Airbnb, Bitcoin, ChatGPT are all household names now, but none of them existed in 2008, when the SNA was last updated. And one can go down the alphabet with further examples, all the way to Zoom. Even the now ubiquitous smartphone was in its infancy then. The word “digital” appeared only twice in the 2008 SNA—in reference to digital cameras. ³

Likewise, the rapid rise of cryptocurrencies has the potential to introduce profound shifts in the economic landscape that challenge traditional statistical frameworks. Crypto assets have created new forms of value exchange, investment vehicles, and methods for cross-border payments. Their volatility and decentralized nature complicate the measurement of financial flows, ownership, and market capitalization, making it essential for statistical systems to develop robust, standardized approaches for classification and reporting.

At the same time, globalization continues to reshape the flows of goods, services, capital, and people across borders. Supply chains are increasingly complex and integrated, blurring the lines between national and international production. Consequently, economic statistics must be able to track cross-border flows with greater precision to reflect the true nature of global economic interdependence.

Alongside technological and structural changes, there is a growing societal emphasis on sustainability and inclusive growth. Concerns about environmental sustainability, resource depletion, and income distribution have become central to the policy agenda. As such, statistical frameworks must evolve to incorporate measures of environmental assets, social wellbeing, and distributional aspects. This holistic approach ensures that policymakers have access to data that goes beyond GDP ⁴ and traditional aggregates, illuminating the broader impacts of economic activities.

The updated SNA and BPM answer that call. Importantly, the two frameworks were revised simultaneously and in close coordination. This helped achieve for the first time full consistency between the two sets of accounts, meeting the ambitious goals set for this work. 2025 SNA ¹ and BPM7 ² even share several chapters, which enhances their alignment and coherence. This harmonization is not just a technical accomplishment; it has practical implications for the accessibility and usability of economic statistics. With these updates, policymakers, researchers, and analysts can now rely on a more integrated and consistent set of data, which facilitates better decision-making and analysis. The upcoming updates to the Government Finance Statistics Manual, System of Environmental and Economic Accounts, and the Monetary and Financial Statistics Manual will seek to further harmonize the standards for economic statistics, which is essential for consistency and comparability across domains. This also has a benefit for producers of statistics. An integrated set of statistical standards allows producers of official statistics to streamline processes, pass data up and down the economic statistics production chain and reduces questions from users about differences in estimates.

The key themes of the SNA and BPM update are digitalization, financial innovation, globalization, wellbeing, and sustainability.^1,2 The revised standards define data as a produced asset and counts its production toward GDP. They recommend that countries develop a suite of indicators (related to AI, cloud computing, digital intermediation platforms, e-commerce, etc.) to make the digitalization of the economy more visible to users. Specifically, for AI, it provides a definition to use in national accounts and balance of payments statistics and gives it explicit visibility within the asset classification. Yet even with this advance, gaps are emerging post publication. For example, the new SNA does not make reference to generative AI – one can only imagine 10 years from now, when statisticians look to update the SNA – some smart statistician will say updates are needed because the current version of the standard does not mention Generative AI!.

To reflect concerns about sustainability, the 2025 SNA puts more emphasis on Net Domestic Product (NDP) rather than Gross Domestic Product (GDP) as a key measure of economic activity and subtracts not only depreciation of fixed capital (as was already done in the 2008 SNA) but also the depletion of natural resources from GDP to arrive at NDP. ¹ Experimental estimates suggest that for a typical country NDP will be 10 to 25 percent lower than GDP. ⁴ Subtracting the depletion of nonrenewable natural resources will have a relatively small impact on NDP in most countries, but quite a substantial one on those that depend heavily on mining and mineral extraction.

Moreover, the updated SNA spotlights measures of wealth in national accounts and how wealth is distributed. It expands the definition of natural capital, which had hitherto been limited largely to mineral wealth, to include renewable energy resources such as solar and wind. ¹ In addition, it places greater emphasis on compiling human-capital accounts as extensions to the main sequence of national accounts. All of this will contribute to a more comprehensive measure of wealth and provide policymakers with clearer signposts toward an economy that is better for people and planet. ¹

The Global Financial Crisis highlighted the need to better account for financial risks and vulnerabilities. Financial innovation and increasing importance of non-bank financial institutions may exacerbate those risks. The updated SNA and BPM tackle this challenge by recommending detailed disaggregation of financial assets and liabilities by instrument and by institutional subsector.^1,2

Globalization challenges standard macroeconomic statistics, which rely on the fundamental principles of residence and economic presence and not necessarily physical presence. In a world where multinational enterprises operate seamlessly across borders and production is fragmented in global value chains, supplementary presentations are needed to provide alternative views or additional details that complement standard macroeconomic statistics. In a shared chapter, the updated SNA ¹ and BPM ² introduce new data series such as breakdowns of data by domestically and foreign-controlled corporations. They also include a harmonized definition of special purpose entities and encourage national statisticians to separately identify such entities where their activities are significant.

A central feature of the updated BPM7 is stock/flow reconciliation. ² The framework for the first time allows for full accounting of changes in cross-border assets and liabilities, be it due to transactions, exchange rate or price movements, or other changes. This results in a truly Integrated Balance of Payments and Internation Investment Position Manual. This integration helps provide a comprehensive view of external sector sustainability and vulnerability, critically important in the current environment. BPM7 also introduces a standardized statistical definition of net international reserves, which will further facilitate the assessment of vulnerabilities as well as shock absorbers.

Updating statistical manuals is not merely a technical exercise; it is a collaborative process that brings together countries and international organizations. This cooperation is vital to ensure that revised standards are representative of global diversity and broadly accepted. Updating the SNA was a global effort coordinated by the European Commission, the International Monetary Fund, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, the United Nations, and the World Bank. The BPM update was led by the IMF through its Balance of Payments Committee (BOPCOM). Both manuals were developed in regular consultation with national statistical offices and central banks, helping build consensus around changes and new definitions. Moreover, from the very start, the SNA and BPM updates proceeded on parallel tracks, starting with a launch in March 2020, then identifying common issues, drafting guidance notes and recommendations, conducting global consultations, penning the updated manuals, and eventually adopting both of them a few days apart in March 2025. The United Nations Statistical Commission approved the wide-ranging and comprehensive SNA update unanimously (since BPM is under the IMF's purview, no vote was required to approve BPM7.)

Looking ahead, the pace of economic transformation shows no sign of slowing. It is therefore crucial to maintain momentum in the updating of statistical frameworks, ensuring that future revisions occur in a timely manner and that manuals remain aligned with each other. Only through sustained collaboration and continual adaptation can the statistical community provide the tools that policymakers need to navigate an increasingly complex world. Staying relevant hinges on three Cs—Continuity, Consistency, and Collaboration.

An expanded set of macroeconomic statistics, grounded in updated and harmonized manuals, is indispensable for effective policymaking. By embracing innovation, fostering collaboration, and prioritizing relevance, the statistical community can help chart a course toward a more resilient and inclusive global economy.